The GCG's competitor's brochure

Although the GOLDEN EAGLE and GORDON C. GREENE were "competitors" in the technical sense of the word, this was back in the glory days when the close friendship of the Leyhe brothers (Capts. Buck and Henry) of the St. Louis based Eagle Packet Company/Eagle Boat Store and the well known Cincinnati Greene family (Capts. Mary & Tom) leaned more toward being "river family" than true competitors as it would most likely be nowadays. After the GOLDEN EAGLE sank in May of 1947, Capt. Tom Greene honored tickets for "the Goldie's" next trips on the GORDON. And the Eagle Boat Store, located at 805 North Wharf Street (just above the Eads Bridge) became the St. Louis "office" for Greene Line, and a point where many cruises began and ended on the GORDON until she ceased operations in 1952. My mentor, Ruth Ferris, was one of those "steamboat buffettes" who had a ticket for the second trip on the GOLDEN EAGLE (Ruth was a school teacher and had to wait until school was out) and who went on the GORDON instead -- a cruise to Nashville, I think. I seem to recall Ruth telling me that Capt. Buck was also a special guest on that trip, invited by his good friends, the Greene's. I know she mentioned Capt. Buck being aboard the GORDON on one trip when Capt. Mary's birthday was celebrated and he presented her with the gift of a fancy comb. As Capt. Fred Way used to say, the GORDON was not at all like a business, but similar to being an honored guest in someone's home, with hospitality second to none. If only we could go back in time and ride the GORDON on one of those wonderful fun filled cruises with some of the best and most revered oldtime steamboat people who ever lived.

Steamboating colleagues:
Keith Norrington's excellent posting Re: GOLDEN EAGLE and THE EAGLE BOAT STORE, St. Louis is a good one. Many don't realize that, indeed, GREENE LINE STEAMERS deployed the GORDON C. GREENE out of St. Louis for several years. The DELTA QUEEN based here and the GORDON there. Roy Barkhau was a fixture with the GREENE LINE for a number of years and was sent by the Greene management to St. Louis as the agent.

Roy wrote an excellent paper bound book EAGLE PACKET COMPANY: A History Of The EAGLE PACKET COMPANY, 1951, Young and Klein, Cincinnati, 45 Pgs. with photos. Roy's Foreward And Dedication is to "...that grand old man who might be Father Mississippi himself--Captain William H. 'Buck' Leyhe." Roy's first two paragraphs are poetic; filled with vivid word pictures of the 'Eagle Boat Store.' Incidentally, I checked on Ben Klein of 'Young and Klein' the other day and learned he's now living in an assisted care facility here in Cincinnati. The printing company made a speciality of river books with Capt. Fred Way's books among them. Roy Barkhau was no spring chicken when he passed away but his mother survived him for some time living deep into her nineties.

I'm dumb as mud about many of the great steamboat companies out of St. Louis on the Mississippi and desire to know more. Thanks to Keith for making us aware.

Cheers,
R. Dale Flick

Indeed, Capt. Roy Barkhau's wonderfully vivid description of the Eagle Boat Store in his book is one of those gems that you easily can "see" and almost "smell". After Capt. Buck Leyhe's passing in 1956, his son Fred took over the operation of the boat store and moved it aboard the ex-snagboat Charles H. West. The old vacated building at 805 North Wharf Street was virtually abandoned for some years. It was, however, FULL of many wonderful steamboat artifacts, including Capt. Buck's mahogany rolltop desk, numerous relics from Eagle Packet Company boats, large framed boat pictures, Regulator clocks (I have one of them!) clerk's stand-up desk, and numerous other fabulous finds for steamboat fanatics. Miss Ruth Ferris, beloved St. Louis teacher, noted river historian and river museum curator -- and a longtime friend of the Leyhe family, was permitted to use many of these items, including a big section of the counter and shelves laden with running lights, shackles, tools and assorted boat hardware, for her Midship Museum aboard the Str. Becky Thatcher at the St. Louis waterfront where these could be seen and enjoyed from 1966 until 1974. Ruth once told me about finding a dilapidated old suitcase on the third floor of the boat store building. Opening it gently she found it was full of steamboat pictures and several log books from the Str. Golden Eagle! A dusty box contained a dozen or so decorative wooden acorns from a long gone steamboat, a river scrapbook and the manuscript (complete with watercolor for the dust jacket) of Robert Hereford's book "Old Man River". Many of the items were later scattered to such places as the history museum at Alton, Il., the St. Louis Mercantile Library's Herman T. Pott Waterways Library, and a number of private collectors. Capt. Buck's desk, Str. Bald Eagle tool chest, the boat store counter/shelves, and other items which were displayed at the now closed Golden Eagle River Museum will go on permanent display in 2007 at the new museum now under construction near the Mississippi River Bridge at Cape Girardeau, Missouri. The old Eagle Boat Store building on Wharf Street was used for some time as "The Old St. Louis Levee House", bar, restaurant, and entertainment venue for the St. Louis Ragtimers, Jean Kittrell and other musicians. The narrow, three story building burned in March, 1972 and was razed. A number of antiques and artifacts on display and stored on the two upper floors were destroyed. The Eagle Boat Store operation evolved into Eagle Marine Industries, which today is operated out of Sauget, Illinois by Mr. Richard Burke, son in law of the late Fred Leyhe. So, the long tradition and river business involvement of the Leyhe family's Eagle Packet Company/Eagle Boat Store lives on lo these many decades later.